The theme of Bot Ban Hang platform. The start-up received US$500,000 investment from NextTech Group. — Photo courtesy of NextTech Group

In the middle of COVID-19, the technology startup Chatbot Vietnam Co., Ltd. received $500,000 investment from domestic technology company NextTech Group of Technopreneurs and early-stage-focused fund Next100. At a time when people are getting used to text messaging, the product is expected to become one of the key tools of online trade.

With the seed capital of half a million dollars, the company will expand its customer base for the product Bot Ban Hang.

Founded at the end of 2017, Bot Ban Hang is one of Vietnam's first chatbot platforms which supplies professional messages to answer queries and aid customer interaction for online businesses.

More than 14,700 businesses have installed Bot Ban Hang and the app has attracted 10 million customers or more from five countries such as Vietnam, Taiwan, the United States, Korea, and Japan. The company attracted over 14,000 businesses and 10 million customers from Vietnam.

Bot Ban Hang's notable features include building up a list of potential customers for each user, saving customers' search history, and arranging an experiential journey for them with the company’s products, as well as interacting with customers. With these useful attributes, the platform helps not only the company to generate revenue and save 80 per cent of online time and 60 per cent of workforce but also helps customers to have an enjoyable and fulfilling online trading experience.

Along with blockchain, AI, and big data, chatbots have been a startup trend in Vietnam since 2017. The most commonplace applications are Google Assistant of Google, Cortana of Microsoft, and Messenger of Facebook. These platforms aid people by serving as digital personal assistants and help with online transactions and customer care services. Besides, there are more commercial activities which are prevalent among people like booking, shopping, searching, and goods inquiries that are all supported.

With the enormous benefits it brings about, chatbots are now popular among tech companies, especially startups. Every day, there are more than 11,000 chatbots on Facebook being used.

Finhay raises 7-digits of funding

Finhay, a Vietnamese fintech start-up, has raised seven-digits worth of investment.

The investment came from Jeffrey Cruttenden, co-founder of the popular US savings app Acorns, Thien Viet Securities, and other investors. Further details were not disclosed.

The firm said it would use the funding to expand its market reach, optimise information technology infrastructure, and recruit more workers, said Techinasia.

Finhay was founded in 2017. It is a wealth management platform that helps users perform micro-investments in mutual funds in Viet Nam starting from just VND50,000 (US$2.1).

Finhay previously raised a total of $1.1 million from Australia’s H2 Ventures and Singapore’s Insignia Ventures Partners. — VNS/VIR/VNN

Vietnamese start-ups continue to pull in investment

Investment in Vietnamese start-ups is growing sharply with millions of dollars pledged in 2019 and the first two months of 2020, according to Singaporean venture capital firm Cento Ventures.

Gov't and private sector must join hands to lift start-up community

Ly Dinh Quan, director of the Songhan Incubator, one of the first private start-up incubators in Vietnam, talks with reporter Chi Lan about the role of the private sector to support a new generation of start-ups in Vietnam.